Commentaries

COP26: Sufficiency Should be First

By Yamina Saheb (Lausanne University, CH)

Avoiding the climate emergency requires going beyond the current set of policy measures. Instead, the concept of sufficiency needs to be adapted and applied to today’s environmental and societal challenges. This would provide clear metrics that are equitable and within the Earth’s ecological limits. The application of sufficiency to policies for building stock would provide a decent living standard for all and have a significant impact on limiting global warming.

What China's Carbon Neutrality Means for its Building Stock

By Wei Yang and Jie Li (Tianjin University, CN)

China's pledge to become carbon neutral will have profound effects on its existing and new buildings. Scalable scenarios from national to district levels have been created to begin a process of assessing and apportioning carbon budgets.  A range of new economic, social and technical measures will be needed to achieve this radical transformation.

Why High-Resolution Climate Modelling Matters: Cities and Health

By Clare Heaviside (University College London – UCL), Jonathon Taylor (UCL & Tampere U), Oscar Brousse (UCL), Charles Simpson (UCL)

Current and projected temperatures simulated by global climate models are typically output at a coarse resolution of 30–100 km. This is unhelpful for identifying climate-related public health risks in cities. New mapping is needed at higher resolution to better characterize hazards and prepare location-specific adaptation plans.

New Approaches to Building Regulations Needed

By Fionn Stevenson (University of Sheffield, UK)

COP-26 represents a significant opportunity for countries to make detailed commitments for their GHG emissions reductions and to rethink how buildings are regulated. Governments have a central role to ensure that widespread and consistent change occurs within the construction and real estate supply chains by introducing new regulatory measures to ensure that buildings meet their performance targets.

Next Steps for COP-26: Capability for Resilient Cities and Regions

By Sarah J. Darby (Oxford University, UK)

It is time for COP-26 to move away from arguing about carbon offset arcana and technological fixes to establishing a culture of practice and learning, with regional forums to support local action in providing shelter, food, water, business and communications. Capability addresses the questions of ‘how’ by creating practical solutions and carries with it public support for a liveable future.

COP-26: Stopping Climate Change and Other Illusions

By William E. Rees (Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia, CA)

Do not expect significant progress from COP-26 on climate change mitigation.  There are fundamental barriers that prevent the deep and rapid changes that scientists advocate.  Most countries adhere to economic growth policies - which create ecological overshoot.  Unless and until we accept that we must live within ecological limits, then climate change will not be adequately tackled. Energy and resource consumption must be addressed through controlled economic contraction.

Unlock Carbon Dependency: Integrate Low-Carbon Development and Territorial Justice

By Stefan Siedentop (ILS - Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development & TU Dortmund University, DE)

Considerable institutional, technological and social lock-in inhibits the needed transition to a climate-friendly society. To overcome this, the socio-spatial effects of climate action must be on an equal basis with mitigation efficacy. Overcoming carbon lock-in in the built environment is much more than a technical issue; it will require the synergy of social, environmental and territorial justice.

Can COP-26 Accelerate Cities’ Climate Actions?

By Maria Balouktsi (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, DE)

It is broadly accepted that cities have a crucial role to play in delivering GHG reductions and many initiatives already exist. However, more needs to be done in policy and practice to coordinate, facilitate and accelerate the role of cities in delivering substantial mitigation.

Trust and Empower the World’s Schoolchildren

By Robin Nicholson CBE (Cullinan Studio and The Edge, UK)

Personal experience as a construction professional and an expert advisor to client organisations and to government has shown how slow top-down approaches can sometimes be to create change. In contrast, a bottom-up approach can result in rapid and strong change. An example of young schoolchildren being empowered to reduce their school's energy demand has yielded astonishing results. The climate emergency is an intergenerational issue that will dramatically affect the younger generation.  Involving childen and harnessing their positive approach is an imperative to constructive change.

Responsibilities to the 'Climate Generation'

By Raymond J. Cole (University of British Columbia, CA)

For the foreseeable future, the current young generation and those following will be navigating through a difficult, turbulent period and have to prepare for a changing world — what Yunkaporta (2020) characterizes as the creation of 'cultures and societies of transition' toward a qualitatively different future era. Intergenerational obligations and rights have a long history in moral and ethical philosophy and legal discussions and, indeed, Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child declares their right to a safe and healthy future. The climate emergency is a child rights issue and governments participating in COP-26 have an obligation to acknowledge this fundamental right in their decision-making about climate change policies and commit to placing a price on any pollution that threatens children’s futures (Vandergrift, 2020).

Transition to a Cross-sectoral Approach for Decarbonising the Built Environment

By Thomas Lützkendorf (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, DE)

The sole reliance on a sectoral approach to GHG emission reductions is problematic and incomplete because it fails to engage with the complex array of built environment actors. A different conceptual and practical approach is proposed which involves ‘areas of need’ and ‘areas of activity’. A scalable GHG budget for the built environment will be more effective in reducing built environment GHG emissions and allow actors to take more control over their emissions.

At COP-26, Climate Change Should Not Go Solo

By Ilan Kelman (University College London, UK)

Climate change is not separate from other built environment challenges. To be positively impactful and effective, COP-26 needs to take on board the connections between climate change and other topics. This will ensure effective climate change action for our infrastructure.

Avoid Unintended Consequences: Provide Justice and Agency

By Magdalena Barborska-Narozny (Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, PL)

The geopolitics of GHG emission reductions is likely to give competitive advantage to wealthier countries. International climate efforts at COP-26 and elsewhere need to address funding commitments to less advantaged countries. Climate agreements also need to ensure that all counties have suffcient agency to achieve carbon neutrality and are not made vulnerable or disadvantaged.

The Elephant in the Climate Change Room

By Mark Levine (Senior Advisor, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, US)

As the economies and cities in developing countries grow, they will represent the total global increase in GHG emissions through the end of this century. These countries currently have the least capability to limit GHG emissions. In addition to ensuring radical GHG emission reductions in developed countries, COP26 must also now provide a range of significant assistance to developing countries to create local capabilities to reduce emissions. A broad outline is presented of what this entails.

Sustainable and Climate Resilient Cities? Stop Experimenting, Start Scaling

By Jeroen van der Heijden (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ and Australian National University, AU)

COP-26 represents an important turning point for cities, the research community and NGOs. We must shift away from creating more experiments and now move toward implementation and the challenges of scaling.  City governments and their stakeholders may be better off to begin asking questions like: Has the problem we want to solve been solved elsewhere? Can we replicate or adjust a proven-to-work intervention from elsewhere?

Managing the Long Term and Complexity: Policies for Mitigation

By Bruno Peuportier (MINES ParisTech, PSL Research University, FR)

The longevity of buildings and lengthy roadmaps for a transition stretching to 2050 are misaligned with the urgency to act on the climate situation and the short mandates of elected officials. In this context, dealing with time is complex. Good practice needs to focus on acting and reporting during a shorter period (the electoral cycle) rather than postponing the progress to the next period. Three specific actions are recommended: (1) the need for clear actions, measurement and reporting; (2) policies and regulations must account for complexity and not result in merely shifting impacts; and (3) life cycle thinking.

A New Radical Bauhaus?

What would a radical agenda be for the New European Bauhaus?

Matti Kuittinen (Aalto University) considers the multiple challenges facing society: the climate emergency, loss of biodiversity and overconsumption of material resources. He argues the New European Bauhaus has the potential to adopt a radical agenda, similar to its original namesake, as part of a transformational process. A personal vision is presented of what that radical agenda needs to be in order to tackle these critical issues and create positive cultural change.

The value of interdisciplinarity: a critical reflection on urban sustainability research

Why is interdisciplinary research is important?

Catalina Turcu (UCL), Lauren Andres (UCL), Melanie Crane (University of Sydney) and Ding Ding (University of Sydney) explain the importance of interdisciplinarity for tackling complex and “wicked’ problems associated with urban sustainability. A critical reflection is presented to unpack some of its challenges.

Heat Pump Market Transformation: Strategies & Lessons

What is an effective set of policies and strategies to deliver heat pumps to homes?

The UK Government has pledged to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, up from 50,000 today. As we await the release of the UK Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, Aaron Gillich (BSRIA LSBU Net Zero Building Centre) reflects on what constitutes effective strategy in terms of delivery, and how industry can help drive the low carbon transition. 

A History of Failed Dreams: Modern Methods of Construction and Katerra

Why has the industrialised production of buildings failed?

Construction historian Andrew Rabeneck provides a historical overview for modern methods of construction (MMC) and explains why it has not succeeded. The recent demise of US company Katerra is considered in a wider context of factory-based offsite construction methods.  Is there sufficient aggregation of demand, assurance of funding appropriate regulatory environment or labour acceptance to provide a sound basis for this dream?  Understanding why construction is the way it is now helps to reveal the basic mechanics of meeting the needs of a very diverse market.